Mistakes: To err is human, so is to fret about it.

Life is so full of mistakes. You see your friends making irrecoverable mistakes, but you can still offer them a shoulder and console them. You always can afford to say it’s not a big deal – there are far worse problems.

But when the same happens to you, you’re stumped! You feel it’s the end of the world, your days feel gloomy and dull. All that you can think of is that mistake you did. You replay those moments over and over on your head – fantasizing if things didn’t go the way it did. You painfully anticipate the harvest of your mistake. Every moment, every happening around you seem to be an excruciating reminder to that mistake.

Here are some things you can try doing:

Confess – Not to a confidante, not to a friend, but directly to the person whom your mistake impacts. It gets a huge load off your chest, and who knows you might have corrected your mistake by just this act!

Be proactive – Never wait for something, time will increase the impact of the mistake. Act swiftly.

Introspect – Would you remember this problem 5 days from now? 5 months now? 5 years from now? If no, then stop worrying. It wouldn’t even matter in the long run.

Learn – To err is human. But to learn is humane. Forget the specifics of the mistake, but understand the dynamics of your mind which put you there in the first place.

Having listed down, sometimes these might not suit everywhere. There are places you need to be cunning. Times when you need to wait out. After all, you were destined to make that single mistake and worry for a week.